Born and brought up in the remote mountainous region of Jumla, where training in athletics track is a distant dream, Budha´s success on Thursday is a perfect answer to the skeptics who complain of poor facilities for sportsmen in Nepal.[break]
“We don´t have proper tracks in Jumla so we train up and down the hills,” Budha told Republica after her success in the event at Dhangadhi Stadium.
“We have recently made a 200 m track on our own initiative but it´s not possible to train there during rainy season,” she added.
It was her second gold in this edition following her success in women´s 10,000 m earlier this week. Budha had also won gold in women´s 10,000 m in the Fifth National Games held in Kathmandu in 2008.
On Thursday, Budha´s victory was made easy by the withdrawal of Kanchhi Maya Koju of Nepal Police Club (NPC), who gave up the race due to injury with just four laps remaining.
Other competitors were no match to Budha, who finished the race in 18 minutes 20.06 seconds. Geeta Khatri of Armed Police Force (APF) finished second with a timing of 19:03:08 minutes. Pushpa Bhandari of Mid Western Region was third clocking 20:03:09.
Another big name to suffer a set back due to injury was Keshari Chaudhary of NPC. Chaudhary, who dislocated her ankle about two weeks ago still participated in the Sixth National Games but couldn´t reach her personal best of 5.26 m in women´s long jump. Although she had won gold in high jump in the first day of athletics competition, she finished second in long jump with a distance of 4.77 m.
“Doctors had told me not to compete but I played just to keep the name of my club,” said a disappointed Chaudhary, who still hopes to give her best once she recovers.
Krishna Chaudhary of Western Region won gold in the event covering a distance of 4.85m while Mira Khadka (4.70 m) of Central Region finished third.
“I still hope to improve my record,” said gold medalist Chaudhary, who shifted from volleyball to athletics after seeing a better future in athletics. Chaudhary had competed in volleyball during the Fifth National Games.
It was a good day for Pramila Rijal of APF and Tilak Ram Tharu of NPC as both of them won two golds each to take their personal gold medal tally to four during this edition of the National Games.
Rijal won the women´s 200m race with a timing of 26.9 seconds. Sabitri Nepali of NPC clocked 27.5 seconds to finish second while Sabita Chaudhary of APF was third with a timing of 28.5 seconds. “I am glad to win the medals despite my injury,” said Rijal.
Rijal then won women´s 4X400m relay along with her club mates Sabita Chaudhary, Brinda Shrestha and Dil Maya Karki with a timing of 4 minutes 18.00 seconds.
“Police (NPC) used to lift the title of relay till now but we have made history with this victory,” added Rijal, after winning her fourth gold.
NPC finished second clocking 4 minutes 24.03 seconds while Western Region (4 minutes 34.02 seconds) secured the third position.
In the men´s 4X400m relay, NPC team, which included Tilak Ram Tharu, Hari Mahato, Ramprit Chaudhary and Siddhant Adhikari, clinched gold with a timing of 3 minutes 29.08 seconds. APF (3 minutes 37.06 seconds) and Western Region (3 minutes 39.06 seconds) secured the second and third position respectively.
Tharu also won men´s 200 m race with a timing of 22.3 seconds. Tharu dedicated his victory to his coach, club and teammates. “I would not be here if I had not got the support from my club, coach and my friends,” said Tharu.
Bimal Basnet (23.4 seconds) of Western Region and Roshan Pandey (23.6 seconds) of Central Region finished second and third respectively.
In the men´s long jump, Yam Sajan Sunar of Mid Western Region clinched gold covering a distance of 6.55 m. Bidhyadhar Chaudhary (6.44 m) of NPC and Devendra Chaudhary (6.21 m) of Eastern Region settled for silver and bronze respectively.
With the completion of the fourth day in athletics events, NPC leads the medal tally with 11 golds. APF is second with nine golds while Mid Western Region is third with three golds. Western Region has secured two golds so far while Far Western Region and PLA have claimed one gold each.
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